The Running for Real Podcast

Wouldn't it be nice if you could master your mind and your emotions? Not only would it help with your running performance, but having mental toughness is something that can help in the rest of our lives too.

Mental training is not something we are born good at, and actually, our minds are not wired to be happy, but we can develop mental strategies that work for us. Having awareness of your mental state as a runner, can help you to talk yourself through struggles, and get through the tough moments.

I met Cindra in 2012, and she was one of those people you meet every so often who defines a changing point in your life. I never thought we would speak again, but here we are.

Cindra may love the field of psychology, but she loves being a runner more, which makes it really easy to relate to her, as she really understands how we think as runners.

We know the mental side of running is so important to racing well, if you want to make positive self talk a focus—this is the episode for you.

Cindra Kamphoff

High performance coach and sports psychologist Cindra Kamphoff gives us advice on building mental toughness and getting out of your comfort zone.

• How to stop getting in your own way
• Why mastering your mind and emotions will help with performance
• How your difficulties fuel you every day to achieve your goals
• What your MVP level is and how you can get there
• Why I can, I am, I will statements are so powerful
• Why repeating a mantra over and over again will help you in a moment of struggle.
• How to focus on what we can control, rather than what we can't

You never know the impact that you are making, and you might not even know it for years down the road.

Difficulties happen for you not to you.

One of the main goals of mental training is to increase your awareness of yourself, and what are your tendencies.

Our brain is not made for us to be happy, it doesn't operate like that, it doesn't operate in a way that helps us perform at our best, so we really have to master our brain and our emotions.

You need to know yourself to master yourself.

We all have automatic negative thinking, but you don’t have to believe everything that you think.

Changing your state and physiology will impact how you feel. 

If you are not embracing your discomfort, you are not really reaching your best and your potential.

You can let the weather provide you an excuse or you can change your perception of the weather, and see that you can still do it.

• Cindra's Top 10 traits of Top Performers 
• Cindra's book, Beyond Grit will be available August 2017
• Amy Cuddy Ted Talk
• Amy Cuddy book Presence
• Cindra Kamphoff Website
• Cindra’s High Performance Podcast

James Dunne of Kinetic Revolution is a sports rehabilitation therapist who is on a mission to prove that runners stop getting injured and improve performance, IF we focus on the right types of training for our bodies.

James looks at what runners can change in running technique to take stress and strain off areas that have been injured in the past from being overworked.

In this episode we talk about how to figure out what you need to strengthen to get your body in the correct position from a stability standpoint to make sure you stop over stressing your body...which leads to injuries.

If you do not live in an area with access to a specialist like James, he gives suggestions on how you can look elsewhere and find someone who can help you.

We discuss how to fit in your strength and stability work around your hard workouts and how to back off correctly as you taper for your big race.

The biggest thing I learned was about the difference between runners who need to work on flexibility compared to the runners who need to work on stability. There is a difference, and it is not as simple as stretching being bad or good for us, as it really depends on the runner.

Do you have too much flexibility that might be hindering your running? If you have a big range of motion, you do not need to stretch as much, but instead focus on controlling the range of motion that you have.

If you have very little flexibility, you need to stretch regularly to maintain hip mobility, to maintain the poor range of motion. You have less instability, and so stability is less important than stretching.

If you keep getting injured or feel completely overwhelmed with all the information out there about strength, stability, and flexibility, this episode will finally break it down for based of what you need as a runner.

James Dunne

James is a Sports Rehab Therapist and Running Coach who is fascinated by human movement patterns, and how they can be refined for both performance and injury rehabilitation.

• James worked alongside Mo Farah in University.
• Why there is no need to force your running form to change if you are not having injuries or problems.
• How to use video analysis with screening exercises to understand what issues are causing your overworked areas.
• How to find an expert to help you if you do not live in an area with access to a gait analysis.
• The difference between strength and stability, and how we can figure out which one is holding us back.
• How to handle your strength training during taper time and what you should focus on as the race gets close.
• Why too much flexibility might be hindering your running.

If you can get injured less, and train more consistently, the performance will come from there.

Technique is an expression of the way your body is currently put together.

Runners need to get good at moving our own body weight efficiently, effectively and quickly. The important thing for us is to be able to control that body weight.

Remember, you can get all the strength, stability, and supplemental work nailed down from the best program with the best technique and the best program, but if your training plan is off and you are making fundamental training errors, you will get injured.

• Jordan Santos podcast
• UVA speed clinic I visited for a gait analysis (three times!)
• James' Hamstring stretch video
• Stephen Makinde at Perfect Balance Clinic
• James' knee to wall test
• Kinetic Revolution for Running for Real Listeners
• Kinetic Revolution Facebook Page
• James favorite overnight oats recipe
• Helsinki Marathon
• Kinetic Revolution on Twitter
• Kinetic Revolution on Instagram

Matt Fitzgerald has authored some of the best running books ever written. From mental tactics to race weight, Matt has become the go to trusted source for real advice for runners.

In his latest book, the Endurance Diet, Matt traveled all over the world to find out what the best runners in the world eat, and how all elite runners and endurance athletes actually feature the same five habits.

They eat everything, yes, even fried foods and sweets, but make sure nutritional value is always at the forefront of their minds.

Matt reminds us that elite runners never start over with their diet, but instead make tweaks based on what they experience. He also explains the importance of enjoying what you eat, rather than just eating what is right.

Matt is currently on an 8 marathons in 8 weeks adventure (and as injury prone runner, this is quite the challenge!).

The marathons Matt is running:

• The Modesto Marathon in California
• The Dustbowl Marathon in New Mexico
• The Rockin K Trail Marathon in Kansas
• The Runners Marathon of Reston in Virginia
• The Boston Marathon in Massachusetts
• The Glass City Marathon in Ohio
• The Jailbreak Marathon in Wisconsin
• The Eugene Marathon in Oregon

If you are struggling with recovery, injuries, sickness, or reaching race weight, it may be time to look at what elite endurance athletes all over the world eat, and tweak your diet to improve your chances.

Matt Fitzgerald

Best selling author, sports nutritionist, and speaker explains what the best runners in the world eat before running, and why the marathon is so powerful to everyone to learn how to get through struggles.

• The five habits most elite runners in the world follow in their diets.
• Why we should eat everything and why cutting out any one food category is a bad idea.
• How to use Diet Quality Score to assess your diet.
• How to fuel if you have to get your training in very early in the morning before work (or life!) begins.
• Why training for and running a marathon will help us to deal with problems in the rest of our lives.
• Why Matt eats an egg, sausage, and cheese biscuit before his running and races

Yes, you are allowed to eat everything, and in fact you should eat everything, but your diet should be heavily weighted towards high quality food types.

We are all metabolically unique, no human being processes food in the same way as anyone else.

It’s not just the physiological, it is the psychological. 

You are going to find your diet more sustainable if you like it.

You can't run a marathon without it changing you.

Nothing motivates more than the people you love the most.

I am on a physical journey in search of the magic of the marathon.

You never completely conquer the marathon. It doesn’t matter who you are, some of the greatest names in the history of our sport have been humbled and embarrassed by the marathon.

• The Endurance Diet
• Diet Cults
• Life is a Marathon Facebook Page
• Northern Arizona Elite
• Matt Fitzgerald's website

Whether you are a new listener, or know me as the former host of the Run to the Top podcast, I am excited that you are here. I have worked really hard on making this podcast the best it can be, even with making my office look like an insane asylum to improve the audio quality with padded squares!

This is just an intro episode into what Running for Real is all about.

I can't wait to get to know you more, and introduce my guests to you!

If you are unsure if the Running for Real podcast should be added to your subscribed podcasts (it's free, I promise!) this is the episode you will learn more, and hopefully, I will be able to join you for your long runs from now on.

Tina Muir

Yes, that's right, I am my own guest. I am a Great Britain and Northern Ireland runner, 2:36 marathoner and founder of Running for Real. Learn more about my running story, and how Running for Real is going to help you feel better about your training.

• What is Running for Real and why you should care
• Who I will be interviewing
• My running background
• The dark side of social media
• What the #running4real four and the #R4RPowerPose is

Thanks for Listening! I hope you enjoyed today's episode.